Ever since the Arab oil embargoes in the 1960s and 1970s, American presidents have pledged to end the country’s dependence on foreign oil by drilling more at home and increasing energy efficiency. But “energy independence” was little more than a dreamy campaign slogan.

Ensor spoke with Tom Fox, who writes the Washington Post’s Federal Coach blog and is the vice president for leadership and innovation at the Partnership for Public Service. Fox also heads up the Partnership’s Center for Government Leadership.

A panel of international affairs experts discuss the course of U.S. Public Diplomacy for the next four years at an event hosted by the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs.

President Obama has signed a secret directive that effectively enables the military to act more aggressively to thwart cyberattacks on the nation’s web of government and private computer networks. Presidential Policy Directive 20, effective as of October, establishes a broad and strict set of standards to guide the operations of federal agencies in confronting threats in cyberspace, according to several U.S. officials who have seen the classified document and are not authorized to speak on the record.

Iran is believed to have increased the number of centrifuges in an underground nuclear plant by nearly a third in three months, diplomats say, underlining the tough task facing major powers pressing Tehran to curb its atomic activity.

An oped from ASP board members and members of ASP’s Consensus featuring Lieutenant General Daniel Christman, USA (Ret.), Brigadier General Steve Anderson, USA (Ret.) and Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, USMC (Ret.) ran in the Global Post discussing the global problems of climate change and possible solutions.

When people think about climate change and energy, they naturally are drawn to thinking about clean technology, carbon capture, or emissions. We’re thinking about mitigation, in other words. However, as Sandy showed, our energy infrastructure is at high risk to the effects of climate change as well. There is a need to adapt to the effects of a changed climate.

There’s one thing that all policymakers should be able to agree on: bringing the U.S. nuclear force in line with today’s security threats by eliminating unnecessary nuclear programs.

About the American Security Project: The American Security Project is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy and research organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of a range of national security issues, promoting debate about the appropriate use of American power, and cultivating strategic responses to 21st century challenges.